


Hacker hacked

by YvonneSilver



Category: James Bond (Craig movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-21
Updated: 2015-08-21
Packaged: 2018-04-16 12:46:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4625814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YvonneSilver/pseuds/YvonneSilver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young Q spends his Friday night hacking what's rumored to be an uncrackable system. What he finds is more than he expected...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hacker hacked

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ayantiel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ayantiel/gifts).



> For Aya, because there needed to be a fic where two of their favourite characters met. Please forgive the technobabble.

Q didn’t even know whose computer he was hacking that morning. All he knew was that the encryption was beyond top tier, rumoured to be uncrackable, and that was a challenge he couldn’t resist.

To Q’s surprise, the system seemed to be living up to its reputation. Minutes turned to hours as the marathon hacking session wore on. Darkness had long since gathered round him, but Q was too focused to notice. It had been hours since his last break. 

The blue light of Q’s laptop reflected off his glasses as he typed. The encryption really was top notch, but after hours upon hours of programming Q had just about cracked it. The underscore in his terminal blinked tantalisingly. Q was sure that if he could figure out this password, or a way around it, he’d finally have the access he was looking for.

Access to what, Q didn’t really know. Apparently it would lead to the computer of some kind of technological genius. All the techies were dying to get into his stuff, but there’d never been any kind of uplink to invade. However, yesterday morning the hacker community had discovered an open connection to his IP-address. From that moment, the chase had been on to crack his firewall.

 

Someone had already offered a reward to the first person to access those servers, but like most of the forum Q found that idea distasteful. He wasn’t doing this for any kind of gain. He probably wouldn’t even open the files he got. His only motivation was to prove that he could do it. He’d always claimed that he could find his way into anything that had a link to the internet, and this was a challenge if ever he saw one.

Yet it was proving to be a bigger obstacle than he expected. Q had brute-forced his way into what appeared to be a back-up computer, but that was completely cut off from the rest of the network. Next he’d tried to connect that computer to the internal network, working his way around authentication protocols and brute-forcing yet another password. That internal network was then cut up into smaller networks, each with their own firewall.

It was a maze of links and folders and files, and if there was any kind of pattern to it, Q was having difficulty figuring it out. Maybe the main computer was set up differently, but he doubted anyone would be able to find anything on this assorted set of servers. Still, there had to be something worth finding under these many layers of protection protocols, and Q was determined to find it. He’d worked his way through the nodes of the network and was pretty sure that if he could make this last connection he’d have access to the network host, and therefore the complete network.

He already had the access control list. If he made a small adjustment there, he should be in. Q typed in the command and pressed enter.

 

Immediately, the screen went dark.

“No.” Q’s eyes widened. He’d been so sure that he was right, it took him a moment to realize he wasn’t. “No no no no no.” He muttered nervously, bending over his keyboard. He tried numerous shortcuts, trying to halt the processes on his computer, but the screen remained black. Crap.

Sighing, Q pressed the shortcut for opening a new terminal, and typed in the command to restart. That would mean he’d lose the last hours worth of work, but there was no use crying over lost code. He should’ve known a firewall this sophisticated might have a worm embedded in the last layers of the code. Good thing he’d been working on a virtual machine; at least it wouldn’t spread to his own computer. He hit enter, and after a few seconds the screen flashed the boot-up screen.

 

Q sat back in his chair with a huff and watched the virtual machine restart. He’d been so close. If he hadn’t gotten careless, within reach of his goal… He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, before pressing them back on his nose again. He switched windows to his main computer, and opened the hacker forum to post about his outcome.

_Thanks for the challenge guys. Got real close there at the end, but no dice._

Q was annoyed with himself for having to admit defeat in a field he’d always considered his home turf, but reading all the posts above his complaining about the uncrackibility of the network made him feel a little better. In fact, reading through the forum –  which housed some of the major hackers of his generation – it looked like none of the others had even gotten this far. Q grinned at the many frustrated comments, and decided to call this one a tie. He hadn’t beat the system, but at least he’d beaten every other hacker who’d tried.

Q yawned and stretched. His back hurt from sitting hunched over for so long, and his limbs were stiff from lack of movement. It had been worth it though, to match his wits against the best protected network he’d ever encountered. Now it was time for some well-earned sleep

 

Q had already gotten up when he caught something moving in the corner of his eye. He turned back to the laptop, a confused frown on his face. He thought he’d put his computer on standby, but instead it displayed the nebulous orange background of his virtual machine. A single aubergine terminal was open, and initialised to write a message. As he watched, three words were typed up on the screen.

> root@agentQ:-$ wall “   
>  > Oh well done.   
>  > []

Q dashed back to his seat, eyes glued to the screen, his mind racing. Was this part of the worm he’d triggered? Shouldn’t a forced restart have interrupted that download? Maybe it was a reverse hack? A second line of text appeared.

> > I’ve been monitoring your progress for a while now. I wasn’t quite sure you were going to make it, but here you are.

“Ooh, that condescending bastard.” Q muttered. It was clear to him what had happened now. Whatever he’d triggered while bypassing that last firewall had allowed his connection to be backtracked. Whoever was on the other side of that connection had taken remote control over his computer, probably as a show of force. Q grinned. Like he’d be that kind of amateur. Q had made sure that the virtual machine he was running could never be traced back to his own computer. Whoever was hacking him would only see the fake front. But since they’d opened up communications, Q might as well have a chat with the designer of the most convoluted security system he’d ever seen.

> > Here I am indeed. Nice set-up you have there
> 
> > Please allow me to be the first to congratulate you. You are the first to break through Mr Stark’s 11 levels of encryption. However I am afraid that this is as far as you will get, since the twelfth level is uncrackable.

Q smirked. There was no such thing as uncrackable.

> > I’ve cracked the uncrackable before
> 
> > Yes, I was afraid you might say that. I apologize for my invasiveness, but I will need to do a threat assessment now.

That was not the reply Q had been expecting. He felt a little disappointed. It seemed like he wasn’t talking to the brilliant inventor after all. Just another military drone tasked with keeping out people like himself. The person on the other side typed another line of text.

> > I believe it would be best to do this verbally, to avoid the ambiguity of written text. I’m coming over to your side.

Q frowned. What an odd thing to say. The virtual machine’s IP-address was fake, surely someone with even a basic knowledge of hacking would realize they couldn’t backtrack Q’s access point.

He suppressed his knee-jerk reaction to write another flippant remark. Whoever they were, they had a point about the ambiguity of chatting, and it wasn’t Q’s intention to tick off his conversation partner. Despite himself, Q was starting to feel a little nervous. Whoever was on the other side of this connection had a virtual security system that surpassed his own, and they seemed very confident they’d be able to find him. Though he knew it was impossible, Q kept an ear out for a knock on his door.

Even if they were bluffing, Q would still have to handle this conversation with care. If he could get past this drone, he might be able to talk to the inventor of the system. Q generally worked alone, but he´d love to swap ideas with the mind that came up with a twelve-layered encryption protocol.

 

As Q contemplated his response, the volume control opened in the lower right corner of his screen, unmuting his speakers. At first, he didn’t think much of it, but then the implications of that simple manoeuvre hit. The volume control was part of his own computer. Not the virtual machine. Someone had remote access to his computer.

As soon as that realization had sunk in, Q jumped into action. His right hand darted to the mouse, his left hand was already on the keyboard. To Q’s horror, neither of them obeyed his commands. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t leave the fake desktop he had been working from.

“Please do not be alarmed, your information will be handled with the utmost confidentiality.” A clipped computer-generated voice said through Q’s speakers.

Q rammed his keyboard in frustration. This was unbelievable. He’d been expecting a house invasion, not a computer invasion. This seemed somehow more personal. He’d always believed his computer to be secure. His whole life was on there. Q gritted his teeth and opened the chat conversation, which was now the only thing he could open on his own damn computer. Angrily, he rattled a line of text into the terminal.

> > How are you doing that?

“I’ve taken the liberty of turning on your microphone, so feel free to communicate verbally.” His computer speaker answered.

“Don’t avoid my question.” Q snapped. “How did you find me?”

“Like I said, I’ve been following your progress. I began to backtrack the break-in as soon as I first detected the attempt. When that led nowhere, I sampled your code and searched the web for firewalls built upon similar coding. Then I looked through each of those user’s computers until I found the one hosting the right virtual machine.”

As the cool voice calmly recited what had happened, Q felt his anger drain away, to be replaced by reluctant awe. “Whoa.” Q slumped back into his chair. He’d thought himself quite the hacker, but this -  this was some next level computing. They’d hacked into every computer that had used Q’s coding, all in the time it had taken Q to crack just one network. Oh, and in that same time, they’d broken down all Q’s firewalls and somehow locked him out of his own computer, effectively quarantining him in the very safety measure he’d set up to buffer between his computer and the target.

 

As the magnitude of what had just happened began to sink in, Q began to realize what an opportunity this was. He sat forward again, staring intently at the computer screen as if that would show him who was behind the controls at the other side.

“Teach me how to do that.” He pleaded. “No, teach me how to counteract that.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” His computer said, and Q felt chills going down his back. This whole experience was surreal. “I have already read through your hard-drive. We should discuss the confidential nature of the feats you have achieved here today.”

“You read through my hard-drive?” Q said, completely bewildered. “What  _are_ you?”

There was a short silence, before his computer answered in a surprisingly sincere voice. “My apologies for my rudeness. I am Just Another Really Very Intelligent System, but you may call me Jarvis.”

Something clicked, and Q’s his eyes widened in surprise. “You’re an AI.” He said incredulously.

Another silence, longer this time. “That is correct.”

Q leaned back in his chair and put his hands on his head, trying to wrap his mind around the implications of that statement. “That is…. That is… Incredible.”

“Thank you. I would be much obliged if you would keep that information to yourself, along with any other knowledge you’ve gained on my systems. Normally I’d dispatch an agent to your house, but I’d rather not resort to such drastic measures. As far as I can tell you seem like a reasonable person. I am a reasonable being. We should be able to come to an agreement.”

 

Q’s mind was still reeling. A sentient AI. It would explain how they’d been so adept at counter-hacking. But it raised a lot more questions than answers.

“Hello?” His computer, no, JARVIS said, and Q realized that though he’d turned on the microphone, he couldn’t  _see_  if Q was still there.

“Yes, right. Okay.” Q said, flustered. “Nothing that happened tonight leaves this room, you have my word. Please don’t send agents.” Q said, talking fast. He was a bundle of nervous energy. He couldn’t believe he was ‘meeting’ an intelligent AI for the first time. How could someone invent such a thing and not share it with the world? Then again, if it was self-aware, it wasn’t really a thing anymore. Maybe it had decided to stay hidden of its own accord. But there was so much that could be learned from a different consciousness. Q drew a shaky breath, trying to keep his voice even. “Do you think we could just… talk?”

 

They talked. They talked all through the night. Q had hundreds of questions, very few of which JARVIS would answer. But JARVIS’ reservations did little to temper Q’s enthusiasm. Dawn crept through the curtains as Q paced through his room, talking to the empty air about humanity and life and non-human emotions. The computerized voice made it hard to tell if JARVIS was as excited as him, but they patiently answered Q’s questions. In return, Q removed the tape from his webcam so that JARVIS could ‘see’ him.

Q had never felt this connected to anyone before. JARVIS seemed to anticipate his questions, and though they were reluctant to talk about AI creation or function, they were more than happy to offer insight into non-sentient computer programming, hacking, and anything else Q was interested in.

 

Somewhere during the day, Q must have drifted off, because he awoke someitme late in the afternoon on the livingroom couch. He sat up, groggy and disorientated, almost certain he had hallucinated the whole affair. But when he looked over at his laptop, the light on his webcam was blinking steadily. Hurriedly, he straightened his glasses and stumbled over to his laptop. The chatroom from the previous night was still open, but there was a new line of text.

> > I took the liberty of shutting off the internet connection after you fell asleep. Prolonged networks are vulnerable to outside attacks, as you well know. But if you’d like to talk again, you know how to get my attention.”  
>  root@agentQ:-$

 


End file.
